We finally left the anchorage around 11am. The water was dead calm and the winds were light, and La Paz was only a few hours away.  Out of the three marinas in La Paz, Rick decided we should spend a few days at Costa Baja, which is the newest and most modern.  Costa Baja is the first marina you come to, followed by Marina Palmira, and then Marina De La Paz, each being separated by two miles.  Costa Baja is the furthest from town, making it very quiet, tranquil, and left us feeling a bit isolated from the rest of the world.  It was beautiful but very much a ghost town with only a few cruisers on our dock.  A lot of the businesses along the inner marina had closed down, and for the remaining 4 restaurants, customers were few.  We have to say that the service at Costa Baja was outstanding throughout;  excellent laundry service, amazing security, somewhat reliable internet,  and always great service at their restaurants and pool bar.  Among the many amenities offered, we found the complimentary shuttle service to town quite handy, the use of the hotel's infinity pool was a great place to hang out after school, and the Italian restaurant was outstanding. However, after 5 days, we were lonely and decided to move on to Marina Palmira.  Once we made the move, time seemed to fly by quickly even though our days were filled with pretty routine stuff!    

Diane, Sydney, and I walked every morning at 630am before school started.  There is a paved walkway lined with palm trees that  runs along the water all the way into town and ends just before the Marina de La Paz, which is about 2miles.  We usually walked about half way in before turning back.  Along the way we'd stop at this small outdoor community exercise gym (what a riot!) where we'd do some crunches (mostly Syd), pushups and whatnot.  There were always a good number of locals out walking as well, including a few dogs.  Those mutts seemed to search us out and go directly to Sydney.  One dog followed her on these walks for three days straight.  Syd decided to call her Lexie because she looked like she could be a fancy dog if she were cleaned up.  Lexie would sit and wait for her at the top of our dock behind the gate at 630am.  It was pretty cute.

We met up with a few families during our stay.  Rich, aboard Third Day, organized a kids day at the beach out on Magote island which is located in the bay across from the city.  It was a great opportunity for James & Sydney to meet some other kids.  Rich and his wife Lori, daughter Amy, and son Jason have been cruising, mainly in the Sea of Cortez, for nearly 4 years. Sydney and Amy, who is 14, got along very well.  I enjoyed talking with Lori about life aboard and the challenges that go with it.  The small number of "kid boats" was disappointing, but we enjoyed the company of all the families that were aboard Jace, Endorphin, Third Day, and Convivia.  
James and Sydney met up with Amy and Jason a few more times while in La Paz and we look forward to crossing paths again somewhere down the road.
We also spent some time with Ben and Molly Doolittle, along with 10 year old Micky and 7 year old JP, who are the crew aboard "Jace".  Great family!  It was nice to have them at Marina Palmira.  It made it convenient for happy hour in our cockpit and the ever exciting WII games down below for the kiddos.  They took us out in their sailboat the day after Thanksgiving in hopes of spotting the resident Whale Sharks just north of the Megote.  The seas were too rough to see much of anything except for dolphin, but it was still nice to get away from the marina for a few hours.
Another gathering with "Jace", "Endorphin" and the kids from "Third Day" took place at Stella's.  Located on the beach close to Marina de La Paz, this open air palapa style restaurant was one of my favorites.  It was on a nice beach with a play structure for the little ones, a sand volleyball net, and a trampoline.  They served refreshing margaritas, cold Coke-a-Colas and tasty pizza.  Everyone was happy!

There was no shortage of restaurants and most were pretty quiet. I am sorry to report that Applebee's was one of them.  Why Applebee's?  I don't get it.  We tried a few, Applebees excluded, and had an incredible dinner with Terry & Diane at the original Rancho Viego where we were introduced to "Aracherra";  marinated beef that is fork tender and delicious!   The Shack was a popular spot for cruisers, with cheap beer, margaritas, a funky atmosphere, and the biggest burgers I've ever seen.   Quite tasty!

There were quite a few options for groceries and after a few misses, Diane & I were pleased with Aramburo's, and Chadraui.  Aramburo's was smaller, but had everything we needed, including beautiful produce.   Chadraui was much larger and reminded us a bit of Fred Meyers, but not quite as nice.  Buying meat is the biggest challenge.  The cuts of beef are very thin and hard to identify and nice lunch meat is a thing the past.  Unless you find pressed mystery meat, sliced for sandwiches, appetizing.  Ew.  We had high hopes of finding a wide range of fresh produce at the Farmers Market which was held on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but we were disappointed to find only 2 stands with produce, and a few others with baked goods,  jams & jellies, and clothing.  General shopping in La Paz was not great.  We found it humorous that streets were lined with shoe store after shoe store with a few stores selling watches in between.  The clothing stores made us smile.....Mexican ladies love their bling!   Oh and the ice-cream shops did not disappoint!  We left a few pesos there!

Thanksgiving.  We had such big plans on being anchored out at Isla Espiritu or Isla Partida, but Marina Palmira we must stay.  Much too windy out there!  So Diane and I finished our shopping, baked a few pies, and got geared up for a hot one on the boat!  We have shared a few very special Thanksgivings together, and this will also be one never to forget.  I believe it was the hottest day we had in La Paz.  The sweat was pouring down our backs in my galley as we finished up with the trimmings that went with our turkey and ham.  Speaking of which, ham...real ham, not pressed stuff you slide out of a can, does not exist in La Paz.  We finally found one that came pretty darn close, or close enough, the day before the big day.  We were so grateful when everything was on the table, we forgot to take a picture.  We just dove in, piled our plates high, and rushed out of that sweatbox of a galley into the cockpit where the breeze was nice and cool.  Aaahhhhh!  Everything was tasty, especially Diane's Ham with pineapple.  All that preparation and it's over in a snap.  Except for the dishes. 

We were very impressed with the people in La Paz. What a great community of locals and cruisers; so gracious and friendly.  The locals always offered a smile and a greeting, willing to help when and where they could. We expected the cruising community in La Paz to be big, but we were blown away at how big! Club Cruceros is a non-profit organization  that provides a fabulous service to both the cruising and local communities.  What a wealth of information!  Plus they are committed to helping the local children in need by raising money through donations and various social fundraising events held throughout the year.  The clubhouse is located at Marina de La Paz where they host a coffee hour every morning, and offer a book exchange and DVD rentals.  www.clubcrusaros.org

Our stay here in La Paz was enjoyable but much longer than originally planned. We can't help feeling a bit disappointed that the weather prevented us from visiting a few of the islands before we continue our migration south.  We'll just have to look forward to our trip back in the spring when the weather is desirable, making it more conducive to exploring the many islands of the Sea of Cortez.